This Week in DPPA: 10 - 17 April 2020

10 - 17 April 2020

This Week in DPPAis a brief roundup of political and peacebuilding events and developments at UNHQ and around the world.

Donor Support for DPPA

DPPA launched its Annual Report under the Multi-Year Appeal (MYA) this week. The report showcases how voluntary contributions made a difference in 2019, allowing the Department to be more operational and seize opportunities to prevent violence and defuse tensions in mission and non-mission settings such as Bolivia, El Salvador, Papua New Guinea-Bougainville, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen. For the fourth consecutive year, the MYA surpassed its resource mobilization target last year. Against $30 million requested in 2019 to cover its six priority areas, DPPA successfully mobilized $35.3 million in contributions from 30 donors (Appeal 118 per cent funded). Read more here

COVID-19

Middle East - Joint appeal to end hostilities
Geir O. Pedersen, Special Envoy for Syria; Ján Kubiš, Special Coordinator for Lebanon; Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq; Martin Griffiths, Special Envoy for Yemen, and Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, issued a joint appeal on 11 April where they urged warring parties in the region to end hostilities in line with the Secretary-General's call for a global ceasefire during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We call on all parties to engage, in good faith and without preconditions, on negotiating immediate halts to ongoing hostilities, sustaining existing ceasefires, putting in place more durable and comprehensive ceasefires, and achieving longer-term resolutions to the persistent conflicts across the region", the five envoys said. Read the appeal hereRead more in UN News

Mladenov: “If current trends continue, the damage to the Palestinian economy will be substantial” Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process issued a statement on 12 April where he expressed concern about the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 health crisis on the Palestinian people, particularly in vulnerable communities in Gaza. ”In addition to the public health implications of the pandemic, the negative shock to the Israeli and Palestinian economies will have profound implications for public welfare, employment, social cohesion, financial and institutional stability,” Mr. Mladenov said, adding that: “If current trends continue, the damage to the Palestinian economy will be substantial.” Read more here

The Special Coordinator met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on 16 April and thanked him for his engagement with the UN during the pandemic. “Now is the time for all to reach across divides and help fight the common enemy. Israelis and Palestinians can and must work together to tackle the health, social and economic effects of COVID-19, Mr. Mladenov tweeted after the meeting.

Security Council

Ruiz Massieu: Coronavirus pandemic is having a profound impact on Colombia, and the peace process will undoubtedly feel its effects
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative and Head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, on 14 April updated the Security Council on the review of the period from 27 December 2019 to 26 March 2020. I the most recent report, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlights the Government's commitment to ensuring the sustained implementation of peace-related programs in the complicated context of the ongoing health emergency. “COVID-19 is and will continue affecting the implementation of the Peace Agreement and the Mission’s verification activities. However, we have a collective obligation to continue to ensure progress in its implementation. Peace in Colombia cannot be, should not be, a casualty of this pandemic,” Mr. Ruiz Massieu affirmed. Read the full statement hereRead more in UN News

Griffiths “An opportunity has emerged to bring peace to Yemen” Yemen Envoy Martin Griffiths on 16 April briefed the Council on the situation in the country.
“An opportunity has emerged to bring peace to Yemen,” Mr. Griffiths started, referring to the Secretary-General urgent appeal for an immediate end to hostilities. “The threat of COVID-19 in Yemen obviously and evidently and without equivocation requires all our attention and resources. Yemen cannot face two fronts at the same time: a war and a pandemic. The new battle that Yemen faces in confronting the virus will be all-consuming," the Special Envoy said. Read the full statement here Read more in UN News

Afghanistan

Voices from Afghanistan heard in biggest-ever global conversation on world’s future
A world free from violence and discrimination, and where all people have quality access to education, must be the shared goal of everyone to make the planet a better place, said participants in recent discussions held across Afghanistan for the global UN75 initiative. To create a collective vision for the world’s future, Afghans came together in the first quarter of the year, before the first COVID-19 cases were reported in the country, to share their ideas on how to improve the lives of all people, everywhere. “Whatever we do, we must consider the consequences to our environment, as it is our shared responsibility,” stated Rubaba Rezai, a youth activist and environmentalist, at an event in Bamyan. Read more here

Iraq

Meeting with Prime Minister-designate
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative and Head of UNAMI, met with Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Baghdad on 12 April. They discussed the ongoing efforts to form a government, and the continued cooperation between the UN and Iraq.
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